He looked up from signing the receipt, surprise flashing through his face.
I shrugged. “I can be gracious.”
“For how long?”
“Don’t test me.”
He smiled, and the sight warmed me more than the cocktail ever could.
Outside, the rain had thinned into mist. The street shone under the lights, black pavement reflecting the crooked neon halo above us. Easton held the door, then took my hand as Istepped onto the sidewalk, careful when my heel found a crack near the curb.
The Bent Halo buzzed behind us, laughter and music spilling through the old brick wall. Across the street, the taco place had closed. The thrift shop windows displayed a mannequin in a fur coat and one roller skate. Somewhere down the block, a car alarm chirped once and gave up.
I leaned back against the wall under the awning, tiara still on, consolation basket hooked over one arm, and looked at Easton.
He looked back at me.
No audience now. No host. No trivia. No Debra. No ferret-driven tragedy.
Just us in the aftermath of the sweetest disaster I had ever had.
“Was this okay?” he asked.
I lifted a brow. “The date where your truck died, our Uber driver left us for Pickle, you almost sued a trivia host, and I got crowned second-place royalty?”
“Yes.”
“It was terrible.”
His mouth pulled to one side. “You’re lying.”
“I am.”
“How terrible?”
“Devastatingly perfect.”
The tension in his shoulders eased, but only a little. He stepped closer, his hands sliding to my waist over my jacket. “I wanted tonight to be something you could keep.”
I looked down at his chest because his face was too much.
“It is.”
His fingers flexed. “Not because I forced it to be?”
I looked back up. “No. Because it went wrong, and you stayed. You didn’t shut down. You didn’t turn mean. You didn’tact like the night was ruined because it wasn’t what you planned. You let me laugh at the wreckage.”
His eyes held mine, steady and bright under the halo sign. “I like when you laugh.”
“I noticed.”
“I used to like it even when you were laughing at me.”
“I’m almost always laughing at you.”
“I know. I’m working through it.”
I smiled, and his gaze dropped to my mouth.
